Effective address based load store unit in out of order processors

ABSTRACT

Technical solutions are described for out-of-order (OoO) execution of one or more instructions by a processing unit. An example method includes looking up, by a load-store unit (LSU), an entry in an effective address directory (EAD) for an effective address (EA) of an operand of an instruction to be launched. Further, the method includes, in response to the EA being present in the EAD, launching, by the LSU, the instruction with the RA from the EAD, and in response to the EA not being present in the EAD, looking up, by the LSU, the EA in an effective real table (ERT) entry, and launching the instruction with the RA from the ERT entry. Further, in response to the ERT entry to be removed, the ERT entry including an ERT index and a mapping between the EA and the RA, removing the entry of the EA from the EAD.

BACKGROUND

Embodiments of the present invention relate in general to anout-of-order (OoO) processor and more specifically to effective addressbased load store unit in out of order processors by dynamic removal ofeffective real address table entries in an OoO processor.

In an OoO processor, an instruction sequencing unit (ISU) dispatchesinstructions to various issue queues, renames registers in support ofOoO execution, issues instructions from the various issue queues to theexecution pipelines, completes executed instructions, and handlesexception conditions. Register renaming is typically performed by mapperlogic in the ISU before the instructions are placed in their respectiveissue queues. The ISU includes one or more issue queues that containdependency matrices for tracking dependencies between instructions. Adependency matrix typically includes one row and one column for eachinstruction in the issue queue.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention include methods, systems, andcomputer program products for implementing effective address based loadstore unit in out of order processors. A non-limiting example of thecomputer-implemented method for out-of-order (OoO) execution of one ormore instructions by a processing unit includes looking up, by aload-store unit (LSU) of the OoO processing unit, an entry in aneffective address directory (EAD), the entry being for an effectiveaddress (EA) of an operand of an instruction to be launched, theeffective address being a virtual address corresponding to a realaddress (RA). Further, the method includes, in response to the EA beingpresent in the EAD, launching, by the load-store unit, the instructionwith the EA from the EAD, and in response to the EA not being present inthe EAD, looking up, by the load-store unit, the EA in an effective realtable (ERT) entry of an ERT, and launching the instruction with the EAfrom the ERT entry if the EA is present in the ERT. Further, the methodincludes, in response to determining, by the load-store unit, the ERTentry to be removed from the ERT, the ERT entry including an ERT indexand a mapping between the EA and the RA, removing the entry of the EAfrom the effective address directory.

According to further embodiments of the present invention, a processingunit for executing one or more instructions includes a load-store unitfor transferring data between memory and registers. The load-store unit(LSU) looks up a first entry in an effective address directory (EAD),the first entry being for an effective address (EA) of an operand of aninstruction to be launched, the effective address being a virtualaddress corresponding to a real address (RA). Further, the LSU, inresponse to the EA being present in the EAD, launches the instructionwith the EA from the EAD, and in response to the EA not being present inthe EAD, looks up the EA in an effective real table (ERT), and launchesthe instruction with the EA from the ERT if the EA is present in theERT. Further, the LSU, in response to determining an effective realtable entry (ERT entry) to be removed from the ERT, the ERT entryincluding a mapping between the EA and the RA: determines the firstentry in the EAD being associated with the ERT index; and removes thefirst entry from the EAD.

According to further embodiments of the present invention, a computerprogram product including a computer readable storage medium havingprogram instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions areexecutable by a processor to cause the processor to perform operationsincluding looking up, by a load-store unit (LSU) of the OoO processingunit, an entry in an effective address directory (EAD), the entry beingfor an effective address (EA) of an operand of an instruction to belaunched, the effective address being a virtual address corresponding toa real address (RA). Further, the operations include, in response to theEA being present in the EAD, launching, by the load-store unit, theinstruction with the EA from the EAD, and in response to the EA notbeing present in the EAD, looking up, by the load-store unit, the EA inan effective real table (ERT) entry of an ERT, and launching theinstruction with the EA from the ERT entry if the EA is present in theERT. Further, the operations include, in response to determining, by theload-store unit, the ERT entry to be removed from the ERT, the ERT entryincluding an ERT index and a mapping between the EA and the RA, removingthe entry of the EA from the effective address directory.

Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniquesof the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the inventionare described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimedinvention. For a better understanding of the invention with theadvantages and the features, refer to the description and to thedrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The specifics of the exclusive rights described herein are particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages ofthe embodiments of the invention are apparent from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a system that includes an effectiveaddress based load store unit in an out of order processor in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a processor architecture of OoOprocessor in which an effective address directory (EAD) and theassociated mechanisms for utilizing this EAD are implemented accordingto one or more embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts a load-store unit (LSU) of a processing core according toone or more embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary block of an effective address directory (EAD)structure (L1 cache) in accordance with one illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary block of an effective address directory structure(L1 cache) in accordance with one illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for accessing memoryfor executing instructions by an LSU according to one or moreembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart for a method for reloading the ERTaccording to one or more embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 depicts an example structure of a synonym detection table (SDT)according to one or more embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart for a method for performing an ERT andSDT EA swap according to one or more embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 depicts an ERT eviction (ERTE) table according to one or moreembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for adding entriesinto the ERTE table according to one or more embodiments of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 12 depicts an example sequence diagram for example set ofinstructions launched according to one or more embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 depicts a block diagram of a computer system for implementingsome or all aspects of one or more embodiments of the present invention.

The diagrams depicted herein are illustrative. There can be manyvariations to the diagram or the operations described therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the actionscan be performed in a differing order or actions can be added, deletedor modified. Also, the term “coupled” and variations thereof describeshaving a communications path between two elements and does not imply adirect connection between the elements with no interveningelements/connections between them. All of these variations areconsidered a part of the specification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more embodiments of the present invention described hereinprovide an effective address (EA) based load store unit (LSU) for anout-of-order (OoO) processor by dynamic removal of effective realaddress table entries in the OoO processor. The technical solutionsdescribed herein use an effective address directory (EAD) in conjunctionwith an effective real table (ERT) and a synonym detection table (SDT),among other components, to facilitate reduction in chip area and furtherto improve timing of OoO processors.

Most modern computing devices provide support for virtual memory.Virtual memory is a technique by which application programs are giventhe impression that they have a contiguous working memory, or addressspace, when in fact the physical memory may be fragmented and may evenoverflow onto disk storage. Essentially, the application program isgiven a view of the memory of the computing device where the applicationaccesses a seemingly contiguous memory using an effective address, inthe effective address space visible to the application, which is thentranslated into a physical address of the actual physical memory orstorage device(s) to actually perform the access operation. An effectiveaddress is the value which is used to specify a memory location that isto be accessed by the operation from the perspective of the entity,e.g., application, process, thread, interrupt handler, kernel component,etc., issuing the operation.

That is, if a computing device does not support the concept of virtualmemory, then the effective address and the physical address are one andthe same. However, if the computing device does support virtual memory,then the effective address of the particular operation submitted by theapplication is translated by the computing device's memory mapping unitinto a physical address which specifies the location in the physicalmemory or storage device(s) where the operation is to be performed.

Further, in modern computing devices, processors of the computingdevices use processor instruction pipelines, comprising a series of dataprocessing elements, to process instructions (operations) submitted byentities, e.g., applications, processes, etc. Instruction pipelining isa technique to increase instruction throughput by splitting theprocessing of computer instructions into a series of steps with storageat the end of each step. Instruction pipelining facilitates thecomputing device's control circuitry to issue instructions to theprocessor instruction pipeline at the processing rate of the sloweststep which is much faster than the time needed to perform all steps atonce. Processors with instruction pipelining, i.e. pipelined processors,are internally organized into stages which can semi-independently workon separate jobs. Each stage is organized and linked with a next stagein a series chain so that each stage's output is fed to another stageuntil the final stage of the pipeline.

Such pipelined processors may take the form of in-order or out-of-orderpipelined processors. For in-order pipelined processors, instructionsare executed in order such that if data is not available for theinstruction to be processed at a particular stage of the pipeline,execution of instructions through the pipeline may be stalled until thedata is available. Out-of-order pipelined processors, on the other hand,allow the processor to avoid stalls that occur when the data needed toperform an operation are unavailable. The out-of-order processorinstruction pipeline avoids these stalls by filling in “slots” in timewith other instructions that are ready to be processed and thenre-ordering the results at the end of the pipeline to make it appearthat the instructions were processed in-order. The way the instructionsare ordered in the original computer code is known as program order,whereas in the processor they are handled in data order, i.e. the orderin which the data and operands become available in the processor'sregisters.

Modern processor instruction pipelines track an instruction's effectiveaddress as the instruction flows through the instruction pipeline. It isimportant to track the instruction's effective address because thiseffective address is utilized whenever the processing of an instructionresults in the taking of an exception, the instruction flushes to aprior state, the instruction branches to a new memory location relativeto its current memory location, or the instruction completes itsexecution.

Tracking an instruction's effective address is costly in terms ofprocessor chip area, power consumption, and the like. This is becausethese effective addresses have large sizes (e.g., 64 bits) and modernprocessor instruction pipelines are deep, i.e. have many stages, causingthe lifetime of an instruction from an instruction fetch stage of theprocessor instruction pipeline to a completion stage of the processorinstruction pipeline to be very long. This cost may be further increasedin highly multithreaded out-of-order processors, i.e. processors thatexecute instructions from multiple threads in an out-of-order manner,since a vast number of instructions from different address ranges can beprocessing, i.e. are “in flight,” at the same time.

In one or more examples, computing devices use a combination of pipelinelatches, a branch information queue (BIQ), and a global completion table(GCT) to track an instruction's effective address. The base effectiveaddress (EA) for a group of instructions is transferred from thefront-end of the pipeline using latches until it can be deposited andtracked in the GCT of the instruction sequencer unit (ISU). The numberof latches needed to store this data is on the order of the number ofpipeline stages between a Fetch stage and a Dispatch stage of thepipeline. This is wasteful, as the EA is typically not needed duringthese stages. Rather it is simply payload data that is “along for theride” with the instruction group as it flows through the pipeline. Inaddition, this method leads to duplicate storage as branch instructionshave their EAs in both the BIQ and the GCT.

Accordingly, computing devices have been developed, that remove theseinefficiencies by tracking the EA solely in the GCT. For example, thesenew computing devices, an instruction sequencer unit creates an entry inthe GCT at fetch time. The EA is loaded into the GCT at this time andthen removed when the instruction completes. This eliminates manypipeline latches throughout the machine. Instead of a full EA that is aslong as number of address lines, for example a 64-bit EA, a small tag iscarried along with the instruction group through the pipeline. This tagpoints back to the entry in the GCT, which holds the base EA for thisinstruction group. Address storage in the BIQ is no longer needed asbranches can retrieve their EA directly from the GCT when they issue.Such techniques improve area efficiency, but they are not applicable inan out-of-order processor. Further, they lack sufficient information toprocess address requests arriving out of program order. In addition,these techniques cannot support dispatch and completion bandwidthrequired for out-of-order execution because they lack the ability totrack instruction groups that may have been formed from multipledisjoint address ranges. Historically, such mechanisms have onlysupported instruction groups from a single address range, which cansignificantly reduce the number of instructions available to executeout-of-order. Further, to lookup corresponding addresses, such as an RAcorresponding to an EA (or vice versa) a Content Addressable Memory(CAM) is used. A CAM implements lookuptable function in a single clockcycle using dedicated comparison circuitry. The overall function of aCAM is to take a search word and return the matching memory location.However, such CAM takes chip area as well as consumes power for suchlookups.

The illustrative embodiments of technical solutions described hereinimprove upon these techniques by providing an effective addressdirectory (EAD), an effective real table (ERT), and a synonym detectiontable (SDT) that have the area efficiency of the GCT solution describedabove, but can also support a wide issue out-of-order pipeline while notinhibiting performance. The technical solutions described herein furtherfacilitate the processors to run with only EAs, as long as the processorcan avoid EA synonyms within an out of order (OoO) window. The OoOwindow is a set of instructions in an instruction pipeline of theprocessor. By avoiding EA synonyms in the OoO window, the processorreduces the chip area and power consumption for address translation,because the processor can avoid translation for the EA in the OoOwindow. This is because load-hit-store (LHS), store-hit-load (SHL), andload-hit-load (LHL) conditions no longer are to be detected for inflightinstructions, as EA synonyms are no longer present in the OoO window.

In other words, the technical solutions described herein address thetechnical problem by policing against EA aliasing within the OoO window,and thus reducing translation data structures and hardware for theload/store ports. Accordingly, the technical solutions described hereinfacilitate a reduction in chip area by tracking only one address, theEA. Further, the technical solutions facilitate the OoO processor to runin a 2 load and 2 store mode with partitioned load store queues, furtherreducing CAM ports that are typically used for the address translation.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a system 100 that includes aninstruction sequencing unit (ISU) of an out-of-order (OoO) processor forimplementing the technical solutions for avoiding EA synonyms in an OoOinstruction window is generally shown according to one or moreembodiments of the present invention. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1includes an instruction fetch unit/instruction decode unit (IFU/IDU) 106that fetches and decodes instructions for input to a setup block 108which prepares the decoded instructions for input to a mapper 110 of theISU. In accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentinvention, six instructions at a time from a thread can be fetched anddecoded by the IFU/IDU 106. In accordance with one or more embodimentsof the present invention, the six instructions sent to the setup block108 can include six non-branch instructions, five non-branchinstructions and one branch instruction, or four non-branch instructionsand two branch instructions. In accordance with one or more embodimentsof the present invention, the setup block 108 checks that sufficientresources such as entries in the issue queues, completion table, mappersand register files exist before transmitting the fetched instructions tothese blocks in the ISU.

The mappers 110 shown in FIG. 1 map programmer instructions (e.g.,logical register names) to physical resources of the processor (e.g.,physical register addresses). A variety of mappers 110 are shown in FIG.1 including a condition register (CR) mapper; a link/count (LNK/CNT)register mapper; an integer exception register (XER) mapper; a unifiedmapper (UMapper) for mapping general purpose registers (GPRs) andvector-scalar registers (VSRs); an architected mapper (ARCH Mapper) formapping GPRs and VSRs; and, a floating point status and control register(FPSCR) mapper.

The output from the setup block 108 is also input to a global completiontable (GCT) 112 for tracking all of the instructions currently in theISU. The output from the setup block 108 is also input to a dispatchunit 114 for dispatching the instructions to an issue queue. Theembodiment of the ISU shown in FIG. 1 includes a CR issue queue, CR ISQ116, which receives and tracks instructions from the CR mapper andissues 120 them to instruction fetch unit (IFU) 124 to execute CRlogical instructions and movement instructions. Also shown in FIG. 1 isa branch issue queue, Branch ISQ 118, which receives and tracks branchinstructions and LNK/CNT physical addresses from the LNK/CNT mapper.Branch ISQ 118 can issue an instruction to IFU 124 to redirectinstruction fetching if a predicted branch address and/or direction wasincorrect.

Instructions output from the dispatch logic and renamed registers fromthe LNK/CNT mapper, XER mapper, UMapper (GPR/VSR), ARCH Mapper(GPR/VSR), and FPSCR mapper are input to issue queue 102. As shown inFIG. 1, issue queue 102 tracks dispatched fixed point instructions (Fx),load instructions (L), store instructions (S), and vector-and-scalerunit (VSU) instructions. As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, issuequeue 102 is broken up into two parts, ISQ0 1020 and ISQ1 1021, eachportion holding N/2 instructions. When the processor is executing insingle threaded (ST) mode, the issue queue 102 can be used as a singlelogical issue queue that contains both ISQ0 1020 and ISQ1 1021 toprocess all of the instructions (in this example all N instructions) ofa single thread.

When the processor is executing in multi-threaded (MT) mode, ISQ0 1020can be used to process N/2 instructions from a first thread and ISQ11021 is used to process N/2 instructions from a second thread ISQ1 1021.

As shown in FIG. 1, issue queue 102 issues instructions to executionunits 104 which are split into two groups of execution units, 1040 and1041. Both groups of execution units, 1040 and 1041, that are shown inFIG. 1, include a full fixed point execution unit (Full FX0, Full FX1);a load execution unit (LU0, LU1); a simple fixed point, store data, andstore address execution unit (Simple FX0/STD0/STA0, SimpleFX1/STD1/STA1); and a floating point, vector multimedia extension,decimal floating point, and store data execution unit (FP/VMX/DFP/STD0,FP/VMX/DFP/STD1). Collectively, the LU0, the Simple FX0/STD0/STA0, andthe FP/VMX/DFP/STD0 form a load-store unit (LSU) 1042. Similarly, theLU1, the Simple FX1/STD1/STA1, and the FP/VMX/DFP/STD1 form a load-storeunit (LSU) 1043. The two LSUs 1042 and 1043 together are referred to asan LSU of the system 100.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the processor is executing in ST mode, thefirst group of execution units 1040 execute instructions issued fromISQ0 1020 and the second group of execution units 1041 executeinstructions issued from ISQ1 1021. In alternate embodiments of thepresent invention when the processor is executing in ST mode,instructions issued from both ISQ0 1020 and ISQ1 1021 in issue queue 102can be issued to execution units in any of the execution units 1040 inthe first group of execution units 1040 and the second group ofexecution units 1041.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention,when the processor is executing in MT mode, the first group of executionunits 1040 execute instructions of the first thread issued from ISQ01020 and the second group of execution units 1041 execute instructionsof the second thread issued from ISQ1 1021.

The number of entries in the issue queue 102 and sizes of other elements(e.g., bus widths, queue sizes) shown in FIG. 1 are intended to beexemplary in nature as embodiments of the present invention can beimplemented for issue queues and other elements of a variety ofdifferent sizes. In accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent invention, the sizes are selectable, or programmable.

In one or more examples, the system 100, in accordance with theillustrative embodiments, is an OoO processor. FIG. 2 is an exemplaryblock diagram of a processor architecture of OoO processor in which aneffective address directory (EAD) and the associated mechanisms forutilizing this EAD are implemented according to one or more embodimentsof the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the processor architectureincludes an instruction cache 202, an instruction fetch buffer 204, aninstruction decode unit 206, and an instruction dispatch unit 208.Instructions are fetched by the instruction fetch buffer 204 from theinstruction cache 202 and provided to the instruction decode unit 206.The instruction decode unit 206 decodes the instruction and provides thedecoded instruction to the instruction dispatch unit 208. The output ofthe instruction dispatch unit 208 is provided to the global completiontable 210 and one or more of the branch issue queue 212, the conditionregister issue queue 214, the unified issue queue 216, the load reorderqueue 218, and/or the store reorder queue 220, depending upon theinstruction type. The instruction type is determined through thedecoding and mapping of the instruction decode unit 206. The issuequeues 212-220 provide inputs to various ones of execution units222-240. The data cache 250, and the register files contained with eachrespective unit, provides the data for use with the instructions.

The instruction cache 202 receives instructions from the L2 cache 260via the second level translation unit 262 and pre-decode unit 270. Thesecond level translation unit 262 uses its associate segment look-asidebuffer 264 and translation look-aside buffer 266 to translate addressesof the fetched instruction from effective addresses to system memoryaddresses. The pre-decode unit partially decodes instructions arrivingfrom the L2 cache and augments them with unique identifying informationthat simplifies the work of the downstream instruction decoders.

The instructions fetched into the instruction fetch buffer 204 are alsoprovided to the branch prediction unit 280 if the instruction is abranch instruction. The branch prediction unit 280 includes a branchhistory table 282, return stack 284, and count cache 286. These elementspredict the next effective address (EA) that should be fetched from theinstruction cache. A branch instruction is a point in a computer programwhere flow of control is altered. It is the low-level machineinstruction that is generated from control constructs in a computerprogram, such as if-then-else or do-while statements. A branch can benot taken, in which the flow of control is unchanged and the nextinstruction to be executed is the instruction immediately following itin memory, or it can be taken, in which the next instruction to beexecuted is an instruction at some other place in memory. If the branchis taken, a new EA needs to be presented to the instruction cache.

The EA and associated prediction information from the branch predictionunit are written into an effective address directory 290. This EA islater confirmed by the branch execution unit 222. If correct, the EAremains in the directory until all instructions from this address regionhave completed their execution. If incorrect, the branch execution unitflushes out the address and the corrected address is written in itsplace. The EAD 290 also includes a logic unit that facilitates using thedirectory as a CAM.

Instructions that read from or write to memory (such as load or storeinstructions) are issued to the LS/EX execution unit 238, 240. The LS/EXexecution unit retrieves data from the data cache 250 using a memoryaddress specified by the instruction. This address is an effectiveaddress and needs to first be translated to a system memory address viathe second level translation unit before being used. If an address isnot found in the data cache, the load miss queue is used to manage themiss request to the L2 cache. In order to reduce the penalty for suchcache misses, the advanced data prefetch engine predicts the addressesthat are likely to be used by instructions in the near future. In thismanner, data will likely already be in the data cache when aninstruction needs it, thereby preventing a long latency miss request tothe L2 cache.

The LS/EX execution unit 238, 240 executes instructions out of programorder by tracking instruction ages and memory dependences in the loadreorder queue 218 and store reorder queue 220. These queues are used todetect when out-of-order execution generated a result that is notconsistent with an in-order execution of the same program. In suchcases, the current program flow is flushed and performed again.

The processor architecture further includes the effective addressdirectory (EAD) 290 which maintains the effective address of a group ofinstructions in a centralized manner such that the effective address isavailable when needed but is not required to be passed through thepipeline. Moreover, the EAD 290 includes circuitry and/or logic forsupporting out-of-order processing. FIG. 2 shows the EAD 290 beingaccessed via the branch prediction unit 280, however, it should beappreciated that circuitry may be provided for allowing various ones ofthe units shown in FIG. 2 to access the EAD 290 without having to gothrough the branch prediction unit 280.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware inFIGS. 1-2 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internalhardware or peripheral devices, such as flash memory, equivalentnon-volatile memory, or optical disk drives and the like, may be used inaddition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIGS. 1-2. Inaddition, the processes of the illustrative embodiments may be appliedto a multiprocessor data processing system, other than the SMP systemmentioned previously, without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

Moreover, the data processing system 100 may take the form of any of anumber of different data processing systems including client computingdevices, server computing devices, a tablet computer, laptop computer,telephone or other communication device, a personal digital assistant(PDA), or the like. In some illustrative examples, data processingsystem 100 may be a portable computing device configured with flashmemory to provide non-volatile memory for storing operating system filesand/or user-generated data, for example. Essentially, data processingsystem 100 may be any known or later developed data processing systemwithout architectural limitation.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a system, apparatus, or method. In one illustrativeembodiment, the mechanisms are provided entirely in hardware, e.g.,circuitry, hardware modules or units, etc. of a processor. However, inother illustrative embodiments, a combination of software and hardwaremay be utilized to provide or implement the features and mechanisms ofthe illustrative embodiments. The software may be provided, for example,in firmware, resident software, micro-code, or the like. The variousflowcharts set forth hereafter provide an outline of operations that maybe performed by this hardware and/or combination of hardware andsoftware.

In illustrative embodiments in which the mechanisms of the illustrativeembodiments are at least partially implemented in software, anycombination of one or more computer usable or computer readablemedium(s) that store this software may be utilized. The computer-usableor computer-readable medium may be, for example, but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, or device. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include thefollowing: a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), anerasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), etc.

Typically, for every load and every store instruction, an EA isconverted to corresponding RA. Such an EA to RA conversion is alsoperformed for an instruction fetch (I-fetch). Such conversion typicallyrequired an effective to real address table (ERAT) for retrieval ofinstructions from lower order memory. In the technical solutionsdescribed herein, the EA to RA conversion is not performed for everyload and store instruction, rather only in case of load-misses, I-Fetchmisses, and all stores.

By using only EA for the operations, the technical solutions facilitateremoval of RA bits (for example, bits 8:51) from one or more datastructures, such as an EA directory (also referred to as L1 directory),LRQF entries, LMQ entries. Further, SRQ LHS RA compare logic is notexecuted if only the EA is being used. Removing such elements reduceschip area of the processor used, thus facilitating a reduction in chiparea over typical processors.

Further, by only using EA, the technical solutions herein eliminate ERATcamming on every load and store address generation. The technicalsolutions further eliminate RA bus switching throughout the unit, andalso avoids fast SRQ LHS RA cam. The technical solutions thus facilitatethe processor to consume lesser power compared to typical processors bynot performing the above operations.

Further yet, the technical solutions herein also facilitate improvementsto L1 latency. For example, the technical solutions herein, byeliminating the address conversions are at least 1 cycle faster indetermining “final dval” compared to typical processors that perform theEA to RA conversions. The latency is also improved because by using onlythe EA (without RA conversion) eliminates “bad dval” condition(s), suchas setup table multi-hit, setup table hit/RA miss, and the like. In asimilar manner, the technical solutions herein facilitate improvement toL2 latency.

The technical challenges of using only an EA-based LSU include beingable to handle snoops from the L2. For example, the LSU has to be ableto have a reverse RA to EA translation. Accordingly, the technicalsolutions herein facilitate converting RA based snoop from the L2 to EAbased snoop to the LSU subunits.

Further, the only-EA based LSU has a technical challenge of handlingsame thread synonyms (that is, two different EA from a thread maps tothe same RA). The technical solutions address such technical challengesusing either an synonym detection table (SDT) or an ERT eviction (ERTE)table as described herein. For example, across LHS, SHL, and LHL, L1accesses where synonym is defined as:Tid=w,EA(0:51)=x=>RA(8:51)=z;Tid=w,EA(0:51)=y=>RA(8:51)=z.Thus, different EAs correspond to the same RA. The technical solutions,as described herein, facilitate rejecting synonym EA's & relaunchingwith corresponding primary EA.

Referring again to the figures, FIG. 3 depicts a load-store unit (LSU)104 of a processing core according to one or more embodiments of thepresent invention. The LSU 104 depicted facilitates execution in a 2load 2 store mode; however, it should be noted that the technicalsolutions described herein are not limited to such an LSU. The executionflow for the LSU is described below. From the load or store instructionsthe EA (Effective Address, as used by the programmer in a computerprogram) is generated. Similarly, for instruction fetch also an EA isgenerated. Typically, the EA was converted to RA (Real Address, as usedby the hardware, after EA-to-RA translation) for every instruction,which required larger chip area, and frequent translations, among othertechnical challenges. The technical solutions described herein addresssuch technical challenges by using only the EA (without translation toRA), and using an effective real table (ERT) 255 to generate the RA,only on load-misses, I-Fetch misses and stores.

The LSU 104 includes a load-reorder-queue (LRQF) 218, where all loadoperations are tracked from dispatch to complete, similar to an LRQ 218in typical LSU designs. The LSU 104 further includes a secondload-reorder-queue LRQE 225. When a load is rejected (for cache miss, ortranslation miss, or previous instruction it depends on got rejected)the load is taken out of the issue queue and placed in a LRQE entry forit to be re-issued from there. The depicted LRQE 225 is partitioned into2 instances, LRQE9, and LRQE1 for the two load mode, with 12 entrieseach (24 entries total). In ST mode, no threads/pipe based partitionexists. In the MT mode, T0, T2 operations launched on pipe LD0; and T1,T3 operations launched on pipe LD1, for relaunch.

As depicted, the LRQF 218 is partitioned into 2 instances LRQF0 andLRQF1 for the two load mode, with 40 entries (each instance). The LRQF218 is circular in order entry allocation, circular in order entrydrain, and circular in order entry deallocation. Further, in MT mode,T0, T2 operations launched on pipes LD0, ST0; and T1, T3 operationslaunched on pipes LD1, ST1. In ST mode, the LRQF does not have anypipes/threads.

In one or more examples, the LRQF 218 (and other structures describedherein) is partitioned for the SMT4 mode as T0:LRQF0[0:19] circularqueue, T1:LRQF1[0:19] circular queue; and T2:LRQF0[20:39] circularqueue, T3:LRQF1[20:39] circular queue.

In one or more examples, the LRQF 218 (and other structures describedherein) is partitioned for the SMT2 mode as T0:LRQF0[0:39] circularqueue, and T1:LRQF1[0:39] circular queue. Further, in one or moreexamples, for the ST mode, LRQF0[0:39] circular queue, with the LRQF1being an LRQF0 copy. For other data structure, a similar partitionpattern is used with the second instance being a copy of the firstinstance in ST mode.

In case of a cross invalidation flush (XI flush), for the LRQF, NTC+1flush any thread that an XI or store drain from another thread hits sothat explicit L/L ordering flushes on sync's is not performed by the LSU104 in case of the XI flush.

All stores check against the LRQF 218 for SHL detection, upon which theLRQF 218 initiates a flush of any load, or everything (anyinstruction/operation) after the store. Further, DCB instructions checkagainst the LRQF 218 for SHL cases, upon which the LRQF 218 causes aflush of the load, or everything after the DCB. Further, all loads checkagainst the LRQF 218 for LHL detection (sequential load consistency),upon which the LRQF 218 causes a flush of younger load, or everythingafter the older load. In one or more examples, the LRQF 218 providesquad-word atomicity, and the LQ checks against the LRQF 218 for quadatomicity and flushes LQ if not atomic. Further yet, in case of LARXinstructions, the LSU 104 checks against the LRQF 218 for larx-hit-larxcases, and in response flushes younger LARX, or everything after theolder larx instruction.

Thus, the LRQF 218 facilitates tracking all load operations from issueto completion. Entries in the LRQF 218 are indexed with Real_Ltag(rltag), which is the physical location in the queue structure. The ageof a load operation/entry in the LRQF 218 is determined with aVirtual_Ltag (vltag), which is in-order. The LRQF flushes a load usingGMASK and partial group flush using GTAG and IMASK. The LRQF logic canflush from current iTag or iTag+1 or precise load iTag.

Further yet, the LRQF does not include an RA (8:51) field typicallyused, and instead is EA-based and includes an ERT ID (0:6), andEA(40:51) (saving of 24 bits). The LRQF page match on SHL, LHL is basedon ERT ID match. Further, Each LRQ entry has a “Force Page Match” bit.When an ERT ID is invalidated that matches the LRQ Entry ERT ID theForce Page Match bit is set. The LRQ will detect LHL, SHL, and storeordering flushes involving any entry with Force Match Match=1.

The SRQ 220 of the LSU 104 has similar structure as the LRQF 218, withtwo instances SRQR0 and SRQR1 of 40 entries (each instance), which arecircular in order entry allocation, circular in order entry drain, andcircular in order entry deallocation. Further, the SRQ 220 ispartitioned similar to the LRQ 218, for example T0, T2 ops launched onpipes LD0, ST0; T1, T3 ops launched on pipes LD1, ST1; and nopipe/thread partition in ST mode. In the ST mode, both copies haveidentical values, with the copies being different in the MT modes. InSMT4 mode, both instances are further partitioned, with each threadallocated 20 entries from the SRQ 220 (see example partition for LRQFdescribed herein). In one or more examples, for store drain arbitration,an intra-SRQ read pointer multiplexing is performed in the SMT4 mode.Alternatively, or in addition, an inter SRQ0/1 multiplexing is performedin SMT2, and SMT4 modes. In the ST mode drain is performed only on SRQ0.

Each entry of the SRQ 220 contains a store TID(0:1), an ERT ID(0:6),EA(44:63), and RA(8:51). To detect LHS, the LSU uses the {Store Tid,EA(44:63)}, thus eliminating RA LHS alias check. The ERT ID is used to“catch” EA(44:63) partial match mis-speculation. The SRQ entry has theRA(8:51), which is translated at store agen, and is only used whensending store requests to the L2 (store instruction drained, notissued). Each SRQ entry also has a “Force Page Match” bit. The forcepage match bit is set when an ERT ID is invalidated that matches the SRQentry ERT ID. The SRQ can detect LHS involving any entry with Force PageMatch=1. For example, LHS against an entry with Force Page Match=1causes a reject of the load instruction. Further, a store drain forces amiss in the L1 cache if Force Page Match=1 for the SRQ entry. This worksin tandem with “Extended store hit reload” LMQ actions.

For example, for an LMQ, an LMQ Address Match={ERT ID, EA PageOffset(xx:51), EA(52:56)} match. Further, a “Force Page Match” bit ofeach LMQ entry is set (=1) when an ERT ID is invalidated that matchesthe LMQ Entry ERT ID. The LMQ rejects a load miss if a valid LMQentry[x]ForcePageMatch=1 and Ld Miss EA[52:56]=LMQEntry[X]EA(52:56).Further, the LMQ has an extended store hit reload. For example, LMQsuppresses reload enable if Reload EA(52:56)=SRQEntry[X] EA(52:56) andSRQEntry[X]ForcePageMatch=1. Alternatively, or in addition, LMQsuppresses reload enable if LMQEntry[X]EA(52:56)=StDrain EA(52:56) andStDrainForcePageMatch=1.

The LSU 104 depicted collapses a Store Data Queue (SDQ) as part of theSRQ 220 itself to further save chip area. The operands are stored in anentry of the SRQ itself if the operand size is less than the SRQ entrysize, for example 8 bytes. In case of wider operands, such as vectoroperands, for example are 16 bytes wide, the SRQ stores the operandsusing two consecutive entries in the SRQ 220 in MT mode. In ST mode, thewider operands are stored in the SRQ0 and SRQ1, for example 8 byteseach.

The SRQ 220 queues operations of type stores, barriers, DCB, ICBI or TLBtype of operations. A single s-tag is used for both store_agen andstore_data. The SRQ 220 handles load-hit-store (LHS) cases (same threadonly). For example, all loads issued are checked by the SRQ 220 toensure there is no older stores with a data conflict. For example, thedata conflict is detected by comparing loads EA and data byte flagsagainst older stores in the SRQ EA array.

SRQ entries are allocated at dispatch where the dispatched instructiontags (itags) are filled into the correct row. Further, SRQ entries aredeallocated on store drain. In one or more examples, the itag arrayshold “overflow” dispatches. For example, information is written into theitag array at dispatch if the row in the SRQ that is desired, say SRQentry x is still in use. When, the SRQ entry x is deallocated, itscorresponding row in the SRQ overflow itag structure is read out andcopied into the main SRQ itag array structure (read of the overflow itagstructure gated by whether there are any valid entries in the overflowitag array for a given thread/region). The main SRQ 0/1 itag array iscammed (or ½ cammed in SMT4) to determine which physical row to writeinto upon store issue, so that the ISU issues stores based on the itag.The SRQ 220 sends to the ISU, the itag when a store drains &deallocates.

ISU assigns virtual sub-regions to store dispatches to avoid overlappingissues. For example, in ST mode, the ISU does not issue a virtual SRQentry 40 until real SRQ entry 0 is deallocated by an entry 0 storedrain. Further, in SMT4 mode, the ISU cannot issue Tx virtual SRQ entry20 until real Tx SRQ entry 0 is drained and deallocated. The ISUsubdivide each thread partition further into 4 regions.

For example, for ST mode subdivide the SRQ 220 into 4 subregions: PingA:SRQ entries 0-9, Ping B:SRQ entries 10-19, Ping C:SRQ entries 20-29,Ping D:SRQ entries 30-39; and Pong A:SRQ entries 0-9, Pong B:SRQ entries10-19, Pong C:SRQ entries 20-29, Pong D:SRQ entries 30-39. Initially,ISU issues Ping A, B, C, D itags. Further, the ISU does not issue Pong Aitags until Ping A itags have been deallocated. Subsequently, after allPing A itags are deallocated, ISU issues Pong A itags, but not issuePong B itags until Ping B itags have been deallocated, similar to thecase A. In one or more examples, the ISU holds 3 extra bits in the issuequeue entry (1 wrap bit+2 bits to delineate which subregion) to create apseudo issue dependency based on subregion.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary block of an effective address directory structure(L1 cache) 290 in accordance with one illustrative embodiment. In one ormore examples, the EAD is part of the LSU 104. As shown in FIG. 3, theEAD 290 is comprised of one or more entries, e.g., entry 0 to entry N,with each entry comprising a plurality of fields of informationregarding a group of one or more instructions. For example, in oneillustrative embodiment, each entry in the EAD 290 may represent between1 and 32 instructions. Entries in the EAD 290 are created in response toa fetch of an instruction that is in a new cache line of the processorcache, e.g., the L2 cache 260 in FIG. 2. The entry in the EAD 290 isupdated as additional instructions are fetched from the cache line. Eachentry of the EAD 290 is terminated on a taken branch (i.e. a fetchedbranch instruction from the cache is resolved as “taken”), cache linecrossing (i.e. the next fetched instruction is in a different cache linefrom the current cache line), or a flush of the processor pipeline (suchas when a branch misprediction occurs or the like).

As shown in FIG. 3, the fields of the EAD 290 entry comprise a baseeffective address 310, a first instruction identifier 320, a lastinstruction identifier 330, a closed identifier 340, a global historyvector field 350, a link stack pointer field 360, a branch takenidentifier 370, and a branch information field 380. A head pointer 390points to the head, or youngest entry, in the EAD 290. A tail pointer392 points to the tail, or oldest entry, in the EAD 290. In addition, atail+1 pointer 394 is provided for pointing to the entry in the EAD 290that is second to the tail, or oldest, entry in the EAD 290.

The base effective address 310 is the starting effective address (EA) ofthe group of instructions. Each instruction in the group of instructionshas the same base EA and then an offset from it. For example, in oneillustrative embodiment, the EA is a 64 bit address comprising bits0:63. The base EA may comprise, in one illustrative embodiment, bits0:56 of this EA with bits 57:61 representing the offset from the base EAfor the specific instruction within the group of instructions. Bits 62and 63 point to a specific byte of each instruction. In the illustrativeembodiment, each address references an instruction that is 32 bits long(i.e. 4 bytes), where each byte in memory is addressable. An instructioncannot be further divided into addressable subcomponents, and thus aninstruction address will always have bits 62 and 63 set to zero.Therefore, bits 62 and 63 do not need to be stored and can always beassumed to be zero by the EAD.

The first instruction identifier field 320 stores the effective addressoffset bits, e.g., bits 57:61 of the EA for the first instruction in thegroup of instructions to which the EAD 290 entry corresponds. Acombination of the base EA from field 310 and the effective addressoffset bits in the first instruction identifier field 320 provides theEA for the first instruction in the group of instructions represented bythe EAD 290 entry. This first field 320 may be used, as discussedhereafter, for recovering a refetch address and branch predictioninformation in the event that the pipeline is flushed, for example.

The last instruction identifier field 330 stores the effective addressoffset bits, e.g., bits 57:61 of the EA, for the last instruction in thegroup of instructions to which the EAD 290 entry corresponds. EAD logicupdates this field as additional instructions in the group ofinstructions represented by the EAD 290 entry are fetched. The EAD logicdiscontinues updating of this field 330 in the particular EAD 290 entryin response to the EAD 290 entry being closed when a cache line crossingor taken branch is found. This field will remain intact unless apipeline flush occurs that clears out a portion of the EAD entry. Insuch cases, the EAD logic updates this field to store the effectiveaddress offset bits of the instruction that is now the new lastinstruction in the entry as a result of the flush. This field isultimately used for completion, as discussed hereafter, to release theentry in the EAD 290.

The closed identifier field 340 is used to indicate that the EAD 290entry has been closed and no more instruction fetches will be made tofetch instructions for the instruction group corresponding to the EAD290 entry. An EAD 290 entry may be closed for a variety of differentreasons, including a cache line crossing, a branch being taken, or aflush of the pipeline. Any of these conditions may result in the valuein the closed field 340 being set to indicate the EAD entry is closed,e.g., set to a value of “1.” This field 340 is used at completion torelease an entry in the EAD 290, as discussed in greater detailhereafter.

The global history vector field 350 identifies the global history vectorfor the first instruction fetch group that created the entry in the EAD290. The global history vector is used to identify a history of whetherbranches were taken or not taken, as discussed in greater detailhereafter. The global history vector is used for branch predictionpurposes to help in determining, based on the recent history of branchesbeing taken or not taken, whether a current branch is likely to be takenor not.

The link stack pointer field 360 identifies the link stack pointer forthe first instruction fetch group that created the entry in the EAD 290.The link stack pointer is another branch prediction mechanism that willbe described in greater detail hereafter.

The branch taken field 370 indicates whether the group of instructionscorresponding to the EAD 290 entry had a branch instruction in which thebranch was taken. The value in the branch taken field 370 is updated inresponse to a branch instruction of the instruction group represented bythe EAD 290 entry being predicted as taken. In addition, once a branchin the instructions of the EAD 290 entry is taken, the EAD 290 entry isalso closed by writing the appropriate value to the closed field 340.Since the branch taken field is written speculatively at predictiontime, it may need to be replaced with the correct value when the branchis actually executed. For example, a branch could be predicted as nottaken, in which case a “0” would be written into the branch taken field.However, later in execution, the branch could be found to be taken, inwhich case the field must be corrected by writing it to a value of “1”.The second write only occurs if the branch was mispredicted.

The branch information field 380 stores miscellaneous branch informationthat is used for updating branch prediction structures when a branchresolves, or architected EA state when a branch instruction completes.

The ERT_ID field 385 stores an index into the ERT table (describedfurther), which identifies a corresponding ERT entry. When an ERT entryis invalidated, the associated ERT_ID is invalidated and it will alsoinvalidate all associated entries in L1 cache and L1 D cache.

Entries in the EAD 290 are accessed using an effective address tag(eatag) that comprises at least two parts: base eatag and an eatagoffset. In one illustrative embodiment, this eatag is a 10 bit value,which is relatively much smaller than the 64 bit effective address. Witha 10 bit eatag value, and a EAD 290 having a size of 14 entries, in oneexemplary implementation, the eatag is comprised of a first 5 bits,referred to as the base eatag, for identifying an entry within the EAD290 and a second 5 bits, referred to as the eatag offset, for providingthe offset of the specific instruction within the group of instructionsrepresented by the entry in the EAD 290. A first bit in the 5 bitsidentifying the entry within the EAD 290 may be used as a wrap bit toindicate whether a wrap occurred when going from the topmost entry tothe bottom most entry of the EAD 290. This may be used for agedetection. The second through fifth bits of the 5 bits identifying theentry within the EAD 290 may be used to index into the EAD to identifythe base EA of the instruction, i.e. EA(0:56). The 5 bit offset valuemay be used to provide, for example, bits 57:61 of the particularinstruction's effective address. This example eatag is illustratedbelow:

-   -   eatag(0:9)=row(0:4)∥offset(0:4)    -   row(0): Wrap bit for the EAD indicating whether or not a wrap        occurred when going from the topmost entry to bottom most entry        of the EAD).    -   row(1:4) Index into 14-entry EAD used to determine EA(0:56) of        the instruction.    -   offset(0:4): Bits 57:61 of the instruction's EA.

FIG. 4 depicts an example effective real table (ERT) structure accordingto one or more embodiments of the present invention. In one or moreexamples, the ERT 255 includes 128 total entries, however it should benoted that the total number of entries can be different in otherexamples, and further that the number of entries may be selectable orprogrammable. Further, in case the LSU executes two instructions viaseparate threads in parallel, the LSU maintains two instances of the ERT255 with 64 (half) entries each, for example an ERT0 and an ERT1. Thedescription below describes any one of these instances, unless specifiedotherwise.

The ERT 255 includes a valid ERT entry, in general, exists for any pageactive in the L1 I-Cache or D-Cache directory (EAD 290) or an SRQ entryor an LRQF entry or an LMQ entry. In other words, ERT 255 is a table ofall active RPN's in the LSU and IFU (L1 DC, SRQ, LRQE, LRQF, LMQ, IC).In one or more examples, if the processor 106 is operating in ST mode,all entries in the ERT 255 are used for the single thread that is beingexecuted. Alternatively, in one or more examples, the entries in the ERT255 are divided into sets, and in ST mode, each set has the samecontent. For example, if the ERT 255 has 128 total entries, and supportsmaximum two threads, when the processor operates in ST mode, the ERT 255includes two sets of 64 entries each, and the two sets have the samecontent.

Alternatively, if the processor 106 is operating in the MT mode, the ERTentries are divided among the threads being executed. For example, incase of two threads, the ERT entries are divided into two equal sets, afirst set of entries associated with a first thread, and a second set ofentries associated with a second thread. For example, 1 copy for LD0pipe L1 misses, ST0 pipe launches, T0/T2 I-Fetches: ERT0, which handlesT0 in SMT2 mode and T0/T2 in SMT4 mode; and 1 copy for LD1 pipe L1misses, ST1 pipe launches, T1/T3 I-Fetches: ERT1, which handles T1 inSMT2 mode and T1/T3 in SMT4 mode.

In one or more examples, each ERT entry includes at least the followingfields ERT fields, ERT_ID (0:6), Tid_en (0:1), Page Size (0:1), EA(0:51), and RA (8:51). The ERT_ID field is a unique index for each ERTentry. For example, the ERT_ID may include a sequential number thatidentifies the ERT entry. The ERT_ID is stored in the ERT_ID field 285of the EAD 290, and other data structures used by the LSU. The TID_enfield indicates if the entry is enabled for being used in MT mode, andin one or more examples a the thread identifier of the instruction thatis using the ERT entry. Further the Page Size indicates the memory pagesize to which the ERT entry refers. The RA includes a real addressassociated with the ERT entry.

The LSU refers to the ERT 255 only in cases where the RA is to be usedfor completing execution of an instruction. As described herein, the ERT255 is consulted by the LSU for the following four functions, 1. Ifetch,Load or store missing the L1 cache; 2. stores from another thread withinthe core; 3. Snoop (XI) from another core; and 4. TLB and SLBinvalidation.

In the first case of Ifetch, Load or store missing the L1 cache, the EAand thread_id are used to index into the ERT 255 and the RA from thecorresponding ERT entry is sent to the L2 cache if a valid ERT entryexists. In case of an ERT miss, that is a valid ERT entry does not existfor the EA and thread_id, the SLB/TLB is used.

In the second case, where stores from another thread within the core, astore drained from the SRQ checks the ERT 255 and ERTE table (describedfurther) for a hit from another thread. If there is no hit from adifferent thread, then there is no load from another thread that isusing the same RA. If there is a hit from a different thread using thesame RA, the LSU checks the LRQ. Although, rare, in case a hit fromanother thread exists if the RA is used by another thread(s).Accordingly, the LSU looks up the ERT table 400 to find the relevantEA(s) for the common RA. The EA(s) are then used to look into the LRQfor a match (reject any store issue in that cycle). LRQ is partitionedper thread, so the LSU only looks into relevant thread's LRQ. If thereis matching load(s) in the LRQ, the LSU flushes the oldest of thematching load(s).

In the third case of a snoop from another core of the processor, the LSUworks similar to the second case, and checks for a hit from any of theother threads being executed. In case the TLB/SLB are invalidated, theERT 255 is also invalidated.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for accessing memoryfor executing instructions by an LSU according to one or moreembodiments of the present invention. The instruction may be a load, astore, or an instruction fetch for the OoO processor 106. Upon receivingthe instruction, the LSU uses parameters of the instruction to check ifthe EAD 290 has an entry corresponding to the instruction, as shown at505, and 510. In one or more examples, the parameters used for checkinginclude thread identifier, page size, EA, among others.

If the LSU experiences an EAD hit in the EAD 290, that is the EA of theinstruction matches an entry in the EAD table 300, the LSU reads thecontents of the matching EAD entry to determine a corresponding ERTentry, as shown at 520. Each EAD entry contains the ERT_ID (0:6) field285. As described earlier, when an ERT entry is invalidated, theassociated ERT_ID is invalidated, which also invalidates all associatedentries in the EAD table 300. Accordingly, an EAD hit implies an ERT hitbecause using the ERT_ID field 285, an ERT entry can be found for theload/store instruction. Accordingly, in case of the EAD hit, afteridentifying the corresponding EAD entry, the LSU reads out ERT_ID fromthe EAD entry and sends to SRQ, LMQ, and/or LRQF, as shown at 530. TheSRQ, LMQ, and/or LRQF use the EA from the EAD entry identified. In caseof store instructions, which use RA, the RA from the ERT entry is readout for L2 access, as shown at 540 and 545. Thus, because the RA is notused anywhere else but the store instructions, core implementing thetechnical solutions herein is called EA-only core.

Now consider the case where the instruction misses the EAD 290, that isthe EA of the instruction does not have a matching entry in the EADtable 300. The thread_id and EA are compared against each entry from theERT 255, as shown at 550. If an ERT hit occurs, that is an ERT entrymatches the parameters, the LSU reads out the RA (8:51) from the ERTentry, as shown at 555, and 530. For load requests the LSU sends the RAto the L2 cache for access, 530. For store instructions, the LSU storesthe RA in the SRQ and then sends the RA to the L2 cache when the storedrains to the L2 cache, as shown at 540-545.

If ERT miss occurs, the LSU initiates a reload for the ERT 255, as shownat 555 and 560. Further, ERT entry replacement is initiated. The ERTentry replacements are LRU based, and the LSU ensures to track synonymswithin out-of-order window during this process.

Thus, by implementing the above method for a load, if there is an EA-hitin the EA-based L1 directory, then no address translation is performed.This improves on the typical processor where, the L1 directory isRA-based, which in case of a miss at the L1 directory for a load, causesthe EA to be sent to an ERAT table for translation to get the RA that issent to the L2 directory and beyond.

Further, for stores, with the method described herein the LSU has to gothrough the ERT table to determine the RA that is then stored in theSRQR to drain down to the caches (L1, L2, memory) when the store getsdrained out of the SRQ. The SRQR holds all the RA for the stores. The RAis only stored for draining to the Nest (that is, L2, memory, and otherunits of the memory subsystem). The RA is not used for load-hit-store,store-hit-load or load-hit-load type of out-of-order execution hazarddetection as it is done in the typical solutions. The RA calculation forstores happens before the store is completed, because after completionthe LSU is unable to process any interrupt for the store (store cangenerate an address translation related interrupt, which is to beprocessed before the store is completed). Here the RA calculation isdone when the store is issued (from the SRQR), thus preventing the LSUfrom having to perform the address translation. Thus, stores gets issuedand executed out-of-order, and then get completed in-order, andsubsequently the stores get drained from the SRQ in-order. Until a storeis drained, no other thread or core knows about the store (only thecurrent thread knows). After the store is drained from the SRQ, it iswritten into the L1 (if the line already exists in L1) and L2 caches (ifcaching is enabled) and at that point the store is known to all otherthreads and cores in the system 100.

For instruction fetches that miss the EA-based L1 I-Cache, the EA istranslated to RA using the ERT 255 and the RA is sent to the Nest tofetch the I-Cache line. Here, the LHS (load-hit-store), SHL(store-hit-load) and LHL (load-hit-load) are all determined based on theEA and the ERT-Index stored with the directory entries in the EA-basedL1 cache (EAD 290). All entries in the EAD table 300 have theirtranslation valid in the ERT table 400, which can be used once LHS, SHL,and LHL are determined. If an ERT entry is invalidated, then thecorresponding L1 cache entries are invalidated.

The LRQF, which is the load-reorder-queue, ensures that all loadoperations are tracked from dispatch to complete. When a load isrejected (for cache miss, or translation miss, or previous instructionit depends on got rejected) the load is taken out of the issue queue andplaced in the LRQE for it to be re-issued from there.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart for a method for reloading the ERTaccording to one or more embodiments of the present invention. An ERTreload causes an entry in the ERT to be created or updated in responseto and based on the ERT miss. The ERT receives the RA which is to beadded into the ERT 255 and compares the RA with each entry in the ERT0and ERT1, as shown at 605. If the RA does not exist in the ERT 255, andif a new entry can be created, the ERT 255 creates a new entry with anew ERT_ID to store the RA, as shown at 610 and 615. The new entry iscreated in either ERT0 or ERT 1 based on the executing thread being thefirst thread or the second thread, respectively. In case the processoris operating in ST mode, the ERT0 is updated. If the ERT 255 does nothave an open slot for a new entry, an existing entry is replaced basedon least recently used, or other such techniques, as shown at 615.

If the existing entry(ies) in the ERT 255 is found with the same RA asthe received RA (reloading RA), the ERT 255 compares page size(0:1) ofthe existing entry(ies) with that for the received RA, as shown at 620.If the page size of the existing entries is smaller than that for thereloading RA, the existing entries for that RA are removed from the ERT255, and a new entry with a new ERT_ID is added for the RA with thelarger page size, as shown at 625. If the existing entry has a same orlarger page size, and if the implementation uses an SDT, an entry iscreated in the SDT for the reloading RA, as shown at 627. It should benoted that this operation may not be performed in case the LSU is usingan ERTE.

If the page size of the existing entries is the same size as thereloading RA, the ERT 255 checks if the existing entry is on the localERT for the executing thread, as shown at 630. A local ERT in this caserefers to the ERT being associated with the thread that is beingexecuted, for example ERT0 for first thread and ERT1 for a secondthread. If the RA hit is in the other ERT, that is the ERT that is notthe local ERT, the ERT 255 creates a new entry in the local ERT withERT_ID matching that in the non-local ERT, as shown at 632. For example,if the RA hit is in ERT1 for instruction executing by thread-0, an entryis created in the ERT0 with matching ERT_ID as the entry in the ERT 1.

If the RA hit is on the local ERT instance, and if the EA also matches,because both EA and RA matche with an existing entry, but there was aERT miss for this thread prompting the ERT reload, the ERT deems thatthis indicates that the two threads are sharing the same EA-RA mapping(with the same page size). Accordingly, the tid_en(0) or tid_en(1) bitin the existing matching entry for the bit corresponding to the reloadthread is turned ON to indicate this case, as shown at 634.

If the RA hit is on local ERT instance, the EA does not match theexisting entry, and if the existing entry is for the same thread as thereloading RA, the ERT identifies the aliasing case where two differentEA maps to the same RA from the same thread, as shown at 636. If theprocessor is using an SDT-based implementation, a synonym entry isinstalled in the SDT that maps to the ERT_ID, EA Offset(40:51) of theexisting matching entry. If the processor uses an ERTE-basedimplementation, the LSU rejects the instruction until it isnon-speculative, upon which it evicts the entry from the ERT and adds anentry in the ERTE.

If the RA hit is on the local ERT instance, the EA does not match theexisting entry, and if the existing entry is for a different thread, theERT identifies the aliasing case where two EAs map to same RA fromdifferent threads, as shown at 638. If the processor is using anSDT-based implementation, a synonym entry is installed in the SDT thatmaps to the ERT_ID, EA Offset(40:51) of the existing matching entry. Ifthe processor uses an ERTE-based implementation, a new local ERT entryis added using a new ERT_ID, with tid_en valid only for the thread thathad the ERT miss.

The above method facilitates that in the ERTE-based implementation, twothreads that have the same RA but different EA use two different ERTentries; and in SDT-based implementation, when two threads have the sameRA but different EA, one of the translation uses the ERT entry and theother will use the SDT entry. Thus, the ERT entries facilitate the casewhere the same EA, and same RA is used across different threads byhaving a tid_en field in the ERT entry. For example, Tid_en(0:1)={tid 0en, tid 1 en} on ERT0 instance; and Tid_en(0:1)={tid 1 en, tid 1 en} onERT1 instance. Further, the ERT entry facilitates the case where same EAcorrespond to different RAs across different threads by having multipleentries in the ERT0 and ERT1 with their respective thread identifiers.The ERT entries also support the case with different EAs correspondingto the same RA (either same or different thread cases). Two cases arenow described based on whether the implementation uses ERTE or SDT, bothare described further.

In case the LSU uses the implementation using SDT, the LSU installs anentry in the SDT (synonym detection table) instead of the ERT 255 when anew instruction is detected with different EA corresponding to the sameRA at ERT reload time. The SDT hits relaunch with the original (orearlier) ERT entry's EA. If new synonym page size is bigger than thepage size in the existing ERT entry with matching RA, then the existingERT entry is replaced by the new synonym (with the larger page size)instead of installing a synonym in the SDT. The old ERT entry iseventually reinstalled as synonym in the SDT.

Alternatively, in case the LSU uses the implementation using ERTE, ifthe instructions with different EAs corresponding to the same RA are fordifferent threads then the LSU install a new entry in the ERT table withthe appropriate Tid_en enabled. If the instructions are for the samethread, then the LSU rejects the load/store until it is non-speculative.After that point, the LSU removes the existing ERT entry and places itin the ERTE table, tagged with the ITAG of the youngest instructionin-flight from the thread. The LSU further installs the new EA-RA pairin the ERT table 400. This ensures that a situation when two differentEAs map to the same RA from the same thread does not occur.

Further, referring back to the ERT cases, consider the case where theLSU receives a snoop from another core from the processor 106. The snoopcan be from a different core in the system (snoop indicates another coreor thread, changed the data at the same real address). The LSU alsochecks stores from a thread within the core as a potential snoop to theother threads within the core. All snoops (from other cores) or stores(from other threads within the core) comes with a RA. In such cases, theLSU reverse translates the RA to determine corresponding EA, ERT_ID, andpage size based on the ERT 255. The LSU compares this information withthe ERT_ID, PS, EA(40:56) stored in each of the following structures todetect a snoop hit and take the appropriate action. For example, if asnoop hit is detected in LRQF Entry, the LSU indicates a potentialload-hit-load out of order hazard. If a snoop hit is detected in the EAD290, the LSU initiates an L1 invalidate, if the snoop is from adifferent core. If the store is from another thread for a shared line,then the line automatically gets the new store and is updated.

If the LSU uses an SDT (as opposed to an ERTE), and if a snoop hitexists in the LMQ, the LSU also updates the LMQ entry to not store in L1Dcache, the SRQ Entry is not used for snoops in SRQ, only used for LHSEA miss RA hit style checking, and a new SDT entry is created for thesnoop hit.

FIG. 7 depicts an example structure of a synonym detection table (SDT)700 according to one or more embodiments of the present invention. Thedepicted example shows a case with 16 entries, however it should benoted that in other examples, the SDT 700 may include a different numberof entries than this example. An entry in the SDT 700 includes at leastthe fields of issue address {Issue Tid(0:1), Issue EA(0:51)}, pagesize(0:1) (e.g. 4 k, 64 k, 2 MB, 16 MB), and relaunch address{EA(40:51), ERT ID(0:6)}. In cases of instructions where launches missthe L1, the LSU compares the instruction against SDT 700. If launchedinstruction gets a SDT hit on original address compare, the LSU rejectsthe instruction and relaunches the instruction with the correspondingreplacement address from the SDT entry. For example, the LSU uses thereplace Addr(40:51) for SRQ LHS, and “Force Match” the ERT ID in theexecution pipeline.

An entry is added into the SDT 700 during the ERT reload as describedherein. For example, during ERT reload, the reload RA is comparedagainst valid ERT entries. If an ERT entry with matching RA alreadyexists and it is not an EA hit case where just an additional tid_en bitis being set in the original ERT entry, then the EA(32:51) from theexisting ERT entry is read, and an entry is installed into the SDT 700instead of adding an entry to the ERT 255.

Because SDT 700 has limited number of entries, the entries are replaced.In one or more examples, the entries are replaced based on leastrecently used (LRU) techniques, or any other order. In one or moreexamples, if an SDT entry is replaced, a subsequent launch using thesecondary address re-triggers the SDT entry installation sequence.Further yet, CAM clears SDT entry(s) with ERT_ID matching an ERT entryinvalidate.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart for a method for performing an ERT andSDT EA swap according to one or more embodiments of the presentinvention. In one or more examples, the LSU performs the swap in case ofthe ERT and SDT entries having the same page size. The swap improves theefficiency of the processor 106 for cases of different EAs correspondingto the same RA, on different instructions on the same or differentthread. For example, consider two instructions x and y, such thatEAx=>RAz, and EAy=>RAz. If the EAx misses ERT first, that is before EAy,the LSU installs an ERT entry with EAx mapping to RAz as describedherein. Subsequently, when the EAy misses the ERT at a later time, theLSU CAMs the ERT with the RAz, gets an RA hit, and installs an entry inthe SDT 700 with Original Address=EAy, Replace Address=EAx.

Now, if most subsequent accesses to RAz are with EAy, the LSU has to usethe SDT more frequently than using the EAD itself. In one or moreexamples, the technical solutions to improve the efficiency of the LSU,by reducing such frequent trips to the SDT include providing anincrement counter in each SDT entry. As depicted in FIG. 8, the LSUlaunches an instruction with an ERT ID that matches an ERT ID from anSDT entry, as shown at 810. If the SDT entry ERT ID matches, the LSUfurther compares the EA of the launched instruction with an original EAin the SDT entry, as shown at 820. If the SDT entry has an originaladdress value that matches the EA from the instruction, the counter ofthe SDT entry is incremented, as shown at 830 and 835. In case thelaunched instruction has an EA different from the original address ofthe SDT entry, the counter of the SDT entry is reset, as shown at 840.

In one or more examples, the counter is a 4-bit field, implying amaximum value of 15. It should be understood that the field is ofdifferent length in other examples, and/or have different maximum value,which is used as a threshold. For example, after the instruction hasbeen launched, the counter value is compared with the threshold, asshown at 845 and 850. If the counter is below the threshold, the LSUcontinues to operate as described. If the counter exceeds the threshold,or in some cases is equal to the threshold, the LSU invalidates the ERTentry corresponding to the SDT entry, as shown at 860. For example, theERT entry with the ERT ID from the SDT entry is invalidated. Theinvalidation of the ERT entry causes the corresponding entries to beinvalidated from the EA Directory, LRQF, LMQ, and SRQ.

Further, the LSU addresses a technical challenge of exceptions in alaunched instruction requiring original EA to finish in the followingmanner. For example, consider the case where the launched instructiongets an SDT hit and wants to relaunch with replace address from the SDTentry instead of the original launch address, but an exception is takenthat requires the original EA to finish. Such condition may occur incase of DAWR/SDAR, etc.

The LSU implementing the technical solutions described herein addresssuch technical challenge by maintaining the original address in a queuein the LRQE. The LRQE also keeps an SDT hit flag (bit), an SDTIndex(0:3) for each LRQE entry. When relaunching, the SDT index is reada cycle early to get the replace address. The LRQE further multiplexesbetween the LRQE entry address (original address) and the SDT replaceaddress (read from the SDT) before relaunching. For exception cases,such as the above, where the original address is required to finish, theLRQE has an additional SDT hit override flag (bit) for each entry set onDAWR partial match, etc. The LRQE relaunches the case where there was anSDT hit that finishes with an exception and forces the original addressto be launched. An SRQ relaunch is similar to the LRQE relaunch asdescribed here, where the SDT hit override flag is used when it isdetermined before relaunch to finish with exception.

FIG. 9 depicts an ERT eviction (ERTE) table 900 according to one or moreembodiments of the present invention. The ERTE table 900 facilitates theLSU to keep track of evicted (or invalid) rows from the ERT 255. TheERTE table 900 further facilitates checking, when an entry is beingcreated in the ERT 255, if there is a different EA for the same RA, onthe same thread. The ERTE table 900 is shared by all concurrent threads.In one or more examples, part of the ERTE table 900 is reserved for NTCentries. An entry in the ERTE table 900 includes fields for a thread ID,an ITAG, an EA, and an RA. In one or more examples, the ERTE table entrymay include additional fields. The thread ID may be a four bit field inone or more examples.

The ERTE table 900 can be viewed as a combination of two tables: ERT_EAand ERT_RA, with 1:1 correspondence between them. The ERT_EA table usesEA to CAM and the ERT_RA table uses RA to CAM. In one or more examples,each table has 64 entries, although the number of entries may bevaried/programmable in other examples. If an EA-RA translation isremoved from the ERTE table 900, the relevant cache line from the EADtable 300 are invalidated as well. That way the ERT 255 is a superset ofall the translation within a processor core (except the TLB, SLB).

The ERTE table 900 keeps track of all translations that are not in ERT255, but used by an instruction in flight. The ERTE table entries aretagged with the youngest possible instruction that may have used anevicted entry. Due to OoO issue of load-store, the youngest ITAG of allactive instructions in the OoO window is stored in the ERTE table 900.On a flush, the ITAG of the last survived instruction is stored to allvalid entries. On a completion, all entries that have the same or olderITAG are freed up. When full, the ERTE table 900 block dispatches andwaits for instructions to complete (and/or flush) and the tableeventually becomes completely free. It should be noted that althoughexamples described herein use the ITAG for tracking age of instructionslaunched, in other examples another tag (like EATAG, LSTAG, or thelike), that monotonically increases and wraps may be used instead.

When a translation in the ERT 255 or EAD 290 is evicted/invalidated, theEA-RA of the evicted entry is added in the ERTE table 900, without lastpredetermined number of bits from the evicted entry, for example last 12bits. Further, the entry in ERTE table 900 with the youngest valid ITAGfor the same thread to which the evicted translation belongs is marked,for example using a flag (bit).

When a new address translation is performed (EA to RA), the LSU comparesthe RA against the ERT 255 to check if a different EA-to-RA from thesame thread already exists in the ERT 255. If exists, then the LSUinstalls the new translation in the ERT 255 as a synonym. Thus, the ERT255 (when using the ERTE) can have two entries that have different EAspointing to the same RA for the same thread. Because synonyms of thein-flight instructions are not allowed, in one or more examples the LSUinitiates a NTC+1 flush just to ensure forward progress.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for adding entriesinto the ERTE table 900 according to one or more embodiments of thepresent invention. As described herein, when a new entry is added intothe ERT 255, the LSU writes both EA and RA of a new translation in agiven row that may be LRU managed, as shown at 1010. The ERTE table 900CAMs using the RA to check if the RA already exists in an entry in theERTE table 900 corresponding to another EA to check for potential caseof multi-hit, with same thread at installation, as shown at 1012. If theRA already exists in the ERTE table 900, the ERT table rejects creatingthe entry for the EA-RA until NTC, and installs when NTC is detected, asshown at 1015.

A balance flush is a thread control mechanism which flushes a stalledand/or resource-consuming target thread entirely from the system torestore resource usage fairness or balance. The balance flush comprisesa next-to-complete instruction flush (NTC+1) which flushes allinstruction groups on a selected thread following the next-to-completeinstruction group. The NTC+1 balance flush flushes the execution units,the global completion table, and the EAD for the selected thread.Threads are balance flushed only if a thread is stalled at dispatch.Balance flushes may be enabled or disabled using the <bf:1> field withinthe thread switch control register.

The LSU reads EA and RA of an existing entry in the ERT that is beingoverwritten by the new entry before overwriting the entry in the ERT255, as shown at 1020; and further stores the read-out entry in ERTEtable 900, as shown at 1030. Further, when there is a snoop from anothercore of the processor or a store drain, the ERTE table 900 CAMs andreads EA, as shown at 1040 and 1050.

FIG. 11 depicts an example sequence diagram for example set ofinstructions launched according to one or more embodiments of thepresent invention. The instructions are depicted in program order on theleft, which are launched OoO, leading to a sequence of operations thatis different than the sequence of the instructions. For example,consider that the following events occur in chronological order: 1.Instruction M, issued OoO, used translation “ea1, ra1”; 2. InstructionK, issued OoO, got ERT miss, installed new entry, evicted “ra2 ea2” fromERT. At this time, the last ITAG in use=N (all lines evicted from samethread); that is, instructions up to N, may have used “ra2 ea2” andafter N no instruction can used “ra2 ea2”. 3. Instruction H, issued OoO,got ERT miss, and evicted “ra1 ea1” from ERT. At this time, last ITAG inuse=Q. 4. Flushed pipeline and last instruction survived has ITAG=E;further, next instruction fetched is R, S. 5. Instructions E through Rcomplete in a given cycle, which frees up all entries in ERTE.

The technical solutions described herein thus facilitate using only theEA, providing technical advantages such that an ERAT (which wastypically used in processors) is not referred to in a load/store path,and further that detecting SHL and suppressing DVAL in time do not causetiming problems. Further, the technical solutions described hereinaddress technical problems with using only the EA, for example that LHS,SHL, LHL detection can miss when two different EA map to the same RA.The technical solutions described herein address such technical problemby either using a Synonym Detection Table (SDT) or an ERT eviction tablefor the instructions in the OoO window. The technical solutions providevarious technical advantages including reduction in chip area (by notstoring RA), reduction in power consumption (by not translating EA-RA),and improvements in latency, among others.

Turning now to FIG. 13, a block diagram of a computer system 1300 forimplementing some or all aspects of one or more embodiments of thepresent invention. The processing described herein may be implemented inhardware, software (e.g., firmware), or a combination thereof. In anexemplary embodiment, the methods described may be implemented, at leastin part, in hardware and may be part of the microprocessor of a specialor general-purpose computer system 1300, such as a mobile device,personal computer, workstation, minicomputer, or mainframe computer.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, the computer system1300 includes a processor 1305, memory 1312 coupled to a memorycontroller 1315, and one or more input devices 1345 and/or outputdevices 1347, such as peripherals, that are communicatively coupled viaa local I/O controller 1335. These devices 1347 and 1345 may include,for example, a printer, a scanner, a microphone, and the like. Aconventional keyboard 1350 and mouse 1355 may be coupled to the I/Ocontroller 1335. The I/O controller 1335 may be, for example, one ormore buses or other wired or wireless connections, as are known in theart. The I/O controller 1335 may have additional elements, which areomitted for simplicity, such as controllers, buffers (caches), drivers,repeaters, and receivers, to enable communications.

The I/O devices 1347, 1345 may further include devices that communicateboth inputs and outputs, for instance disk and tape storage, a networkinterface card (NIC) or modulator/demodulator (for accessing otherfiles, devices, systems, or a network), a radio frequency (RF) or othertransceiver, a telephonic interface, a bridge, a router, and the like.

The processor 1305 is a hardware device for executing hardwareinstructions or software, particularly those stored in memory 1312. Theprocessor 1305 may be a custom made or commercially available processor,a central processing unit (CPU), an auxiliary processor among severalprocessors associated with the computer system 1300, a semiconductorbased microprocessor (in the form of a microchip or chip set), amicroprocessor, or other device for executing instructions. Theprocessor 1305 can include a cache such as, but not limited to, aninstruction cache to speed up executable instruction fetch, a data cacheto speed up data fetch and store, and a translation look-aside buffer(TLB) used to speed up virtual-to-physical address translation for bothexecutable instructions and data. The cache may be organized as ahierarchy of more cache levels (L1, L2, etc.).

The memory 1312 may include one or combinations of volatile memoryelements (e.g., random access memory, RAM, such as DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM,etc.) and nonvolatile memory elements (e.g., ROM, erasable programmableread only memory (EPROM), electronically erasable programmable read onlymemory (EEPROM), programmable read only memory (PROM), tape, compactdisc read only memory (CD-ROM), disk, diskette, cartridge, cassette orthe like, etc.). Moreover, the memory 1312 may incorporate electronic,magnetic, optical, or other types of storage media. Note that the memory1312 may have a distributed architecture, where various components aresituated remote from one another but may be accessed by the processor1305.

The instructions in memory 1312 may include one or more separateprograms, each of which comprises an ordered listing of executableinstructions for implementing logical functions. In the example of FIG.13, the instructions in the memory 1312 include a suitable operatingsystem (OS) 1311. The operating system 1311 essentially may control theexecution of other computer programs and provides scheduling,input-output control, file and data management, memory management, andcommunication control and related services.

Additional data, including, for example, instructions for the processor1305 or other retrievable information, may be stored in storage 1327,which may be a storage device such as a hard disk drive or solid statedrive. The stored instructions in memory 1312 or in storage 1327 mayinclude those enabling the processor 1305 to execute one or more aspectsof the dispatch systems and methods of this disclosure.

The computer system 1300 may further include a display controller 1325coupled to a display 1330. In an exemplary embodiment, the computersystem 1300 may further include a network interface 1360 for coupling toa network 1365. The network 1365 may be an IP-based network forcommunication between the computer system 1300 and an external server,client and the like via a broadband connection. The network 1365transmits and receives data between the computer system 1300 andexternal systems. In an exemplary embodiment, the network 1365 may be amanaged IP network administered by a service provider. The network 1365may be implemented in a wireless fashion, e.g., using wireless protocolsand technologies, such as WiFi, WiMax, etc. The network 1365 may also bea packet-switched network such as a local area network, wide areanetwork, metropolitan area network, the Internet, or other similar typeof network environment. The network 1365 may be a fixed wirelessnetwork, a wireless local area network (LAN), a wireless wide areanetwork (WAN) a personal area network (PAN), a virtual private network(VPN), intranet or other suitable network system and may includeequipment for receiving and transmitting signals.

Systems and methods for providing XXX can be embodied, in whole or inpart, in computer program products or in computer systems 1300, such asthat illustrated in FIG. 13.

Various embodiments of the invention are described herein with referenceto the related drawings. Alternative embodiments of the invention can bedevised without departing from the scope of this invention. Variousconnections and positional relationships (e.g., over, below, adjacent,etc.) are set forth between elements in the following description and inthe drawings. These connections and/or positional relationships, unlessspecified otherwise, can be direct or indirect, and the presentinvention is not intended to be limiting in this respect. Accordingly, acoupling of entities can refer to either a direct or an indirectcoupling, and a positional relationship between entities can be a director indirect positional relationship. Moreover, the various tasks andprocess steps described herein can be incorporated into a morecomprehensive procedure or process having additional steps orfunctionality not described in detail herein.

The following definitions and abbreviations are to be used for theinterpretation of the claims and the specification. As used herein, theterms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,”“having,” “contains” or “containing,” or any other variation thereof,are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, acomposition, a mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus thatcomprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only thoseelements but can include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such composition, mixture, process, method, article, or apparatus.

Additionally, the term “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as anexample, instance or illustration.” Any embodiment or design describedherein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments or designs. The terms “at least one”and “one or more” may be understood to include any integer numbergreater than or equal to one, i.e. one, two, three, four, etc. The terms“a plurality” may be understood to include any integer number greaterthan or equal to two, i.e. two, three, four, five, etc. The term“connection” may include both an indirect “connection” and a direct“connection.”

The terms “about,” “substantially,” “approximately,” and variationsthereof, are intended to include the degree of error associated withmeasurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipmentavailable at the time of filing the application. For example, “about”can include a range of ±8% or 5%, or 2% of a given value.

For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related to making andusing aspects of the invention may or may not be described in detailherein. In particular, various aspects of computing systems and specificcomputer programs to implement the various technical features describedherein are well known. Accordingly, in the interest of brevity, manyconventional implementation details are only mentioned briefly herein orare omitted entirely without providing the well-known system and/orprocess details.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processing unit for executing one or moreinstructions, the processing unit comprising: a load-store unit fortransferring data between memory and registers, the load-store unitconfigured to: look up a first entry in an effective address directory(EAD), the first entry being for an effective address (EA) of an operandof an instruction to be launched, the effective address being a virtualaddress corresponding to a real address (RA); in response to the EAbeing present in the EAD, launch the instruction with the EA from theEAD, and in response to the EA not being present in the EAD, look up theEA in an effective real table (ERT), and launch the instruction with theEA from the ERT if the EA is present in the ERT; in response todetermining an effective real table entry (ERT entry) to be removed fromthe ERT, the ERT entry including a mapping between the EA and the RA:determine the first entry in the EAD being associated with the ERTindex; and remove the first entry from the EAD.
 2. The processing unitof claim 1, wherein the load-store unit is further configured to:identify a second entry from a store reorder queue that is associatedwith the ERT index; and set a page-match bit of said second entry. 3.The processing unit of claim 2, wherein in response to the page-matchbit of the second entry from the store reorder queue being set, theload-store unit rejects a load instruction that is associated with thesecond entry.
 4. The processing unit of claim 2, wherein the load-storeunit is further configured to: identify a third entry from a loadreorder queue that is associated with the ERT index; and set apage-match bit of said third entry.
 5. The processing unit of claim 4,wherein the load-store unit is further configured to: identify a fourthentry from a load miss queue that is associated with the ERT index; andset a page-match bit of said fourth entry.
 6. The processing unit ofclaim 1, wherein the ERT entry to be removed from the ERT is the leastrecently used ERT entry.
 7. The processing unit of claim 1, whereinlooking up the effective address in the ERT comprises translating theeffective address to the real address, and comparing the real addresswith one or more entries in the ERT.
 8. A computer program productcomprising a computer readable storage medium having programinstructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable bya processor to cause the processor to perform operations comprising:looking up, by a load-store unit of the processor, an entry in aneffective address directory (EAD), the entry being for an effectiveaddress (EA) of an operand of an instruction to be launched, theeffective address being a virtual address corresponding to a realaddress (RA); in response to the EA being present in the EAD, launchingthe instruction with the EA from the EAD, and in response to the EA notbeing present in the EAD, looking up the EA in an effective real table(ERT) entry of an ERT, and launching the instruction with the EA fromthe ERT entry if the EA is present in the ERT; and in response todetermining the ERT entry to be removed from the ERT, the ERT entryincluding an ERT index and a mapping between the EA and the RA, removingthe entry of the EA from the effective address directory.
 9. Thecomputer program product of claim 8, the entry in the effective addressdirectory being a first entry, the operations further comprising: inresponse to determining, by the load-store unit the ERT entry to beremoved from the ERT: identifying a second entry from a store reorderqueue that is associated with the ERT index; and setting a page-matchbit of said second entry.
 10. The computer program product of claim 9,wherein in response to the page-match bit of the second entry from thestore reorder queue being set, the load-store unit rejects a loadinstruction that is associated with the second entry.
 11. The computerprogram product of claim 9, the operations further comprising: inresponse to determining, by the load-store unit the ERT entry to beremoved from the ERT: identifying a third entry from a load reorderqueue that is associated with the ERT index; and setting a page-matchbit of said third entry.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11,the operations further comprising: identifying a fourth entry from aload miss queue that is associated with the ERT index; and setting apage-match bit of said fourth entry.
 13. The computer program product ofclaim 8, wherein the ERT entry to be removed from the ERT is the leastrecently used ERT entry.